Just One More
Laurel D. Buckingham · Tidal Church Moncton · April 10, 2022 · All In series
Laurel D. Buckingham centres on Acts 1:6-8 and the story of the paralyzed man lowered through the roof. Jesus' last words call every believer to be His witness, and inviting others, without fear, is a simple, joyful way to bring people to Him.
More from Laurel D. Buckingham · The All In series
Topics: Fear & Anxiety, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] I did try to get Pastor Joel to preach the same sermon He preached last week because it was such a great message. In fact, I never heard anything even close to it on that particular subject. And you might say, "Why would you want him to preach the same sermon over again?" Because some of you didn't get it, and it would be good if everybody gets it. So I'm going to hope and pray here this morning that everybody gets it, and we go out of here all fired up to serve, because this time of the year, isn't it just about the most glorious time you could imagine as we're reminded of what Easter is all about? Because it's about a living, loving, liberating, life-giving Savior.
[0:53] And wouldn't you want the whole world to hear about that and to experience that love and that liberation that comes through this living Savior? Well, as we think of that living Savior and what He had to say in His last days, which I would think this, if He only had a few things to say, and that's what He said, it would seem that that must have been mighty important for everybody to get. And it's my hope this morning that we will all get it. Get it in a way that would please the Lord. Get it in a way that would help a lost world out there that needs Jesus Christ more than anything else.
[1:41] So I want you to look into Acts chapter 1, verses 6 to 8, and it says this. Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, "Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" And Jesus said to them, "It is not for you to know the times and dates the Father has set by His own authority, but you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, Samaria, Moncton, Salisbury, Shediac, Hillsborough, all the surrounding communities.
[2:27] You are going to be the ones that's going to help people to know about Me." Now, here's what Jesus could have said. When they asked Him when that's going to happen, when He's going to restore the kingdom of heaven, He could have said, which He would never say, "It's none of your business." But then what He also could have said, "But I'll tell you what is your business because it is the most important business you could ever be involved in, and that is to be My witnesses." And we read that throughout the Bible. We read it in Isaiah 43:10.
[3:13] "You are My witnesses," declares the Lord, "and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe in Me." How's it going to happen unless there are some witnesses? The Bible says that there was a man sent from God in John chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, whose name was John. He came for what reason? He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, the light of Jesus, so that through Him all might believe. And what God has for witnesses today are the people in this room and the people who have received Christ as Savior, and that is a glorious responsibility, but the glorious privilege and joy that we can all, I mean, all have, every one of us can have in being that witness.
[4:15] Now, some people have tried to make themselves feel better by saying, "If I just walk the walk and live before them the way that I should, that is going to help them to want to come to Christ." Can you imagine walking the walk in the best way and being the most wonderful person in the city of Moncton, and you attend this church? What is going to say to that person that you attend a church where you can be inspired and where you can be changed and where you can grow and where you can help by just never talking about it? What is that going to do? And so the real witness is a person who walks the walk and talks the talk. And a major part of walking the walk is talking the talk, because if we're really not talking the talk, then we're really not walking the walk the way we're ideally supposed to walk the walk.
[5:13] And so if I am going to be a full follower of Jesus, now there are followers, there are faithful followers, but I'm talking about a full follower of Jesus. What will I do? I will be a witness, and I will invite people to come where they can be inspired and helped and be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. So this whole idea of witnessing was for the first century. It was for the second century. It was for the 18th century, and it's for the 21st century. That means every one of us that know Him as Savior are to be a witness.
[6:01] So I asked the question, do we get it? Do we really get it? Do we all get it? Have we all got it? Have we all experienced what it is to be a witness? Because the Bible says in Luke 19:10 that Jesus came into this world to seek and to save those who were lost. That was His high and great purpose. And listen, that is so illustrated and so emphasized in what He had to say, because He talked about the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. And He talked about all the energy and effort and diligence and perseverance and determination that went into reaching that lost son, that lost sheep, and that lost coin.
[6:57] And then once they were found, those were all found, there was a great celebration. And I'm telling you, I can't think of a church. I've never been to a church like this. I travel all over North America and some places around the world. I've never seen a church where there is such a welcoming, celebrative atmosphere. And if there's any place on the face of the earth where there should be celebration, should it not be the church of Jesus Christ? I mean, when you're seeing transformed lives, people passing from death unto life, people are being tremendously changed by the power of the gospel. I'll tell you, that is something to celebrate.
[7:42] Isn't it wonderful that this is a celebration center? Not only in name, but it's something, someplace where people really, truly celebrate. But you know, even though there was a great celebration when the lost son came back to his father and they did a big party, not everybody was celebrating. Now the older son, the older brother who resented the attention being given to his brother who had been out there, sinful and lost, he was upset. He was having a party, but it was a pity party.
[8:31] And I am around and see and preach in churches that are maintaining and dying churches. And do you know one of the reasons why that is happening? They're not concerned about people outside the church. They're just concerned about how they are being ministered to, if everything is done to please them. And when too much attention is given to the people that they're trying to reach on the outside that really need to hear the message, they have their pity party. And that is one of the reasons, I'll tell you, probably the main reason that so many churches are dying in our part of the world today. But I'm telling you what? Where you've got an army of people like we have in this church, and I thank God for everybody who's doing this, an army of people who are willing to be a witness and that witness is bringing about transformed lives.
[9:29] As long as that's happening, this place will be alive. And we will see God continue to bless and great things continue to happen to His glory. So do we get it? Do we really get it? For every one of us as individuals, not making excuses. Andrew got it, thank God he did. Because what did Andrew do? He brought Peter to Jesus. He invited Peter to come and meet Jesus. And Peter met Jesus, and Jesus looked into his eyes and He saw all the deficits in Peter's life, probably more than anybody in this room. And He saw those characteristics that would spell total failure.
[10:15] But Jesus looked into Peter's eyes and He gave him hope because He said, Peter, you are all of those negative things: a coward, a sinner, impetuous, undependable. But Peter, you will be like a stone. And that was quite a bit different than what he was. And because Peter believed he was transformed, he was changed, then millions of people will have come to Christ because of Peter's message and Peter being changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just that one person, just Andrew giving that one invitation.
[11:04] And I'm hoping and praying that as a result of our understanding of the importance of being a witness, that every person, whether you're online, whether you are here in the auditorium, wherever you might be, that you this week will be a witness, you will pull out all the stops, you will do everything that you've and things that you've never done, things you've never thought you could do, things you maybe never wanted to do in order to be reaching out to people to be a witness so they can hear the message of the gospel, and then as they get spiritually grounded, they'll be able to go out and be a witness to others because they've heard that message. Peter got it. I'll tell you somebody else that got it.
[11:52] Julie got it. Julie is a member of this church. Everybody knows her, loves her. She's just this wonderful, vivacious person who has a tremendous testimony. She invited a neighbor some time ago who was of an entirely different faith. I talked to that man after all the things that had happened as a result of Julie's witness, and he said, I said when she first asked me, I'm not gonna go to Wesleyan Church, why would I go to Wesleyan Church? I'm not a Wesleyan. But he said, she was so loving and so kind, I couldn't say no to her. There's a message in that, isn't there? For all of us to be that kind of a person. That man came, got involved in Alpha, was transformed, went to Halifax, went to a church in Halifax where he introduced Alpha for the first time, and one time I was in a meeting, he came up to me just glowing.
[12:48] He said, there's over 300 people in Alpha that are being transformed. And now that man has written a book about Alpha. He travels all over the world telling about Alpha because Alpha is all about how you can become a Christian and grow as a Christian. And now in this denomination that is worldwide, they're hearing about Alpha. I talked to one of the leaders in the denomination recently in Halifax at a luncheon, and he said to me, tens of thousands of people are going to be in heaven, have been transformed because of what your church has done. Well, it wasn't our church, it was Julie. Isn't that great? One person inviting a neighbor and see what is happening when we all feel that responsibility and really that privilege of doing such a thing.
[13:41] But you know, the biggest obstacle with a lot of people is fear, and really there's nothing to fear. I've been inviting, just to make sure that I was doing what Pastor Joel preached about last week, all this week, everywhere I've gone. And I invited a neighbor as I was walking in the neighborhood, and he's one of these persons, and his wife are very concerned about COVID, and even though he's had it, Fred's going to get it again. Now, I want to believe it wasn't any excuse, but it might have been, and he sent me a nice email saying that they decided to pass on it. Did that hurt me any? I'm still alive. I mean, that was no big deal to have somebody say no.
[14:29] And if we, there's one man left here last week being convicted by the message and took 200 invitations. I say hallelujah to that. And if a few of those, if he passed all those invitations, do you think there'll be at least somebody who comes? My guess is somebody will, but you'll have some people who say no. You know, the bark of fear is a lot worse than its bite. Truth is, it doesn't even have a bite. So why fear? Doing something that is so important to the Savior, that was one of the last things He said to His people before leaving this earth.
[15:22] And it seems like if it's that important to Him, it should be that important to us. And so everywhere I've been going this week, at my bank, I gave the teller an invitation. She lit up like a light bulb when I gave her the invitation. Oh, I was there two or three years ago for the Easter Bunny Blast and gave me the indication she'd become, I had to get some work done on the vehicle, the proprietor of the place. I invited him to come and he said, we'll be there. The whole family will be there. I'm going to invite my receptionist as well. If we never try to do these things, we're not gonna see those kind of things happen, and every one of us can do it, and let's all say amen to that.
[16:10] Every one of us can do it and it will bring glory to God and it's going to certainly change lives, because God has not given any of us a spirit of fear. He's given us a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind. And in fact, if we got a spirit of fear, you gotta be a little concerned about where that is coming from. And when you stop and think of all the people who gathered on the day of Pentecost, I wonder how they all heard about it. Thousands that came on the day of Pentecost. There were people who were busy inviting people. Had to be in order for that time because they had no other means of communication. They didn't have television and radio and newspapers and like what we have today.
[16:57] And so it is so important that we be invited. Let me say this and say it clearly. For some, Christianity has become a belief, and it's a good belief, but not a practice. And what I mean by that, not a practice when it comes to being a witness. And if it weren't for so many people having made that a practice in this place, 90% of us wouldn't be here today. And how we truly feel about lost people will be demonstrated by what we're doing to reach those lost people.
[17:51] How we truly feel about lost people will be best communicated by what we are doing to reach that lost person for Jesus Christ. For Christianity, for some it has become just a belief, but not a practice, and I'd like to be able to say, not here and not us. Let us not be in that category. Let's be in the category that makes it a practice to be the witness that we are entreated to be. So I ask the question, Andrew got it, Julie got it, have you got it, have we all got it in the way that it was meant for us to truly get it and do something about it.
[18:43] I want to read to you in Luke chapter 5, 17 to 20, another emphasis on this business of being a witness. One day, Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting by. Notice they were sitting by, a lot of people sitting by, and they're kind of like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They had come from every village of Galilee, from Judea and Jerusalem, and another translation says, the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Listen, don't you love to be in an atmosphere where you feel the power, the power of the Lord, the presence of the Lord?
[19:34] And I don't know of a place where that power and that presence can be any more felt than right here in this place. From the time you enter the door and you're greeted by a whole bunch of people and you're able to connect and communicate and have a coffee and mingle and all of that, so that the church is not looked upon as some exclusive club, but is looked upon as a place of love, acceptance, healing, encouragement, a place where everybody is welcome. And I think that is what this place is all about, and they will sense that power that will make the difference. And so some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
[20:23] And when they could not find a way to do this, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said, friend, your sins are forgiven you. Listen, I know that we hear that story after the fact. So it doesn't have the same significance, but can you imagine really the kind of determination these men had, I mean, to even invite the guy, first of all, they must have been pretty highly motivated or realized the importance of it. And then to get there and see these religious people who had such little gumption that they couldn't even get themselves out of the way, let alone help get somebody else to Jesus.
[21:23] And they're standing there blocking something that God was waiting, willing, and wanting to do. I hope none of us will ever be a blockage to anybody coming to Christ. But we'll be doing everything imaginable we can possibly imagine. And let me tell you, it took imagination. It took creativity. It took gall, really, and determination and perseverance with all these important people standing around and in the way to think in terms of getting so creative that they go up and tear a man's roof off. And Jesus is trying to teach. I tell you, there's all kinds of reasons why you wouldn't do that.
[22:09] But these men had so much motivation and desire to get a man to Christ that they were not going to be stopped by anything. And I hope that can be the spirit of every one of us. We'll not let our fears, we'll not let any obstacles. Listen, in this part of the world, and in this city especially, we have more reason in this church to be inviting people than any place I know of in Atlantic Canada, because this church has a reasonably good reputation with some of the events that have taken place here and the kind of ministry that goes on in this church right now. I think it's just the best that you could imagine, the preaching and the music and all the rest. There's just not a reason not to do it, is there? And so as we see the need, let's not let any obstacles.
[22:58] And we may be the biggest obstacle of all ourselves rather than any other obstacles that there might be before us. And so these men got this person to Jesus, and let me say this again. He says, "My witnesses," in the first century, but He's saying it to us today just as, in fact, probably even more so in some ways, in the 21st century. "You are to be My witnesses." And this can work. I remember one time for a special event, I really got involved in a really strong way and invited 128 people.
[23:47] And I kept a record of the names of the people I invited, and then I contacted them all a couple of days before the big event. And let me tell you something, out of that 128, 117 of them came. And I am saying to us, if we will just put our foot forward and take a step, and whatever has kept us back, just forget about that, obliterate that from our hearts and minds so that we can be doing what seems to be the most important thing to Christ. Anyone can do it. The question is, will you? And you, and you, and you online, will you do it?
[24:35] You can do it if you will just decide to do it. But of course, we hear all kinds of excuses. I've never heard a reason yet for not doing it. I've heard lots of excuses. Like, I don't have the time, I'm so busy. Here's something. We have the time to do what we really want to do. We do. We'll find the time some way, somehow. But we don't have the time to do the things that we pretend we want to do, that we hope people will think we want to do it, even though we really don't want to do it deep down here. And I hear some other people, "Well, who would I invite?
[25:22] I don't know who in the world to invite." Well, let me give you some ideas, some people you might be able to invite. You can invite friends. You can invite neighbors. You can invite relatives. You can invite co-workers. Students can invite students. You can even invite some interview, even if you're not a student. You can invite strangers, which I have been doing this past week. And every place I've gone, I went to return a rental place, and I invited the person by passing him this card, and I don't know who it was, and they looked at the card, and they looked at me, and they said, "Oh, I really appreciate that." I think you're gonna get that kind of response more than you'll ever get a negative response.
[26:09] And what is so difficult about giving somebody an invitation that you have in your hand and inviting them to come? There's just nothing that could be considered difficult about that, and so there's all kinds of possibilities of who we could invite. And let me say it again. How we feel, how we really truly feel deep down in our hearts about the lost is best communicated by what we are willing and we are going to do to reach the lost. Do you love the lost?
[26:54] Do you wanna see the lost come to Jesus? Do you have some family members you'd like to see transformed by the power of Christ? This is a great opportunity to invite you. Now, some of you have heard me say this, but I wanna put it in a different context. Life is not about pleasure, not about taking it easy, not about having it easy. Life is not about pleasure. Life is about purpose. And when you have the right purpose and you're doing the right thing, that will be your pleasure. And what higher purpose could there be for any of us to follow through on Jesus' last words and decide that we will be His witness.
[27:52] And I just have to ask this question. How many of you get it and how many of you are going to do it? Thank God for those who have done it and thank God for those who are going to do it. And so we're going to stand together and we're going to sing about doing it to the glory of God. God bless you.